Sunday, September 30, 2012

Does anyone use Expressions to teach math? Our district adopted their basal this year and we are required to follow it. We can't deviate from the text. I'm so sad. I used to LOVE teaching Math in fact I felt like that was where my students did the very best. The main reason I became a teacher is because I love to create. Now I feel like I can't do anything but teach Expressions. I don't mean to dis on it. It is a good program. But I miss teaching math the way I used to. So I guess now I'll have to put my creative juices into creating instead of using them in my own class. :( Can I just say how much I love to teach place value. I have a five year old boy and I really feel like he learns best when he is up and moving. This place value freebie will once again have your kiddos moving around the room. The last place value activity I made did the same thing. If you haven't downloaded it you can download it too. It's also free. I have a couple more ideas up my sleeve for place value too. I'll be making a few more in the next couple of weeks.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

I'm linking up with 1,2,3, Teach With Me. There are so many great books I can't wait to read in October with my students. Here are a couple of my FAVORITES:

My mom used to read this book to me when I was kid. We read it so many times I memorized it. Now I'm reading it to my own children and they love it.

Okay I better stop, I could go on FOREVER!! I love this time of year and there are so many darling Halloween books. These are just a few of my favorites. You can also check outthis post for some more Halloween teacher read alouds.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

I'm linking up with teacher to the core she is doing a linky party on sight word games. She has so many amazing ideas and isn't this graphic to die for?

I too have made some Thanksgiving sight word games. Just in time for the month of November. Check them out. I do it everyday during guided reading and my students LOVE them. It's the first thing they ask me when they come to the table. They want to know if we are going to play turkey time. There is a Kindergarten, First Grade, and a Second grade one if you want to check them out!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

This week we have been working on probability my students absolutely love this lesson. I had my son pose for a couple of the pictures and he wanted to do the games too. It has tons of hands on activities and I feel like they really understand probability after I teach it. If you would like to purchase it. It's in my TPT store for $3.00 also I'm going to give it away to the first person who comments.Please leave your email too.

Monday, September 17, 2012

I'm linking up with What a Teacher Wants. I found this great idea off of spend a day in second grade. I made her darling blurt chart. I hope this helps with those students who are always shouting out. It's a great chart to go with the book My Mouth is a Volcano. I have this book and I love it for students who shout out.

This is my tried and true behavior management system. Every year I start my behavior management with this clip chart. Of course I change it out every month for different things but I always start my year with this thing. The kids love it because they love watching their name move up. If I move one name it seems like all of them quiet down and try to get me to move their name as well. At the end of the day they each have a punch card. I give them one punch if they stay on ready to learn. If they move up they get more punches. Once their whole punch card is filled they get to choose a prize out of the prize box. I will be posting more behavior management ideas as the year goes on.

Of course mine is all bees because my classroom is centered around bees. Each saying is a bee theme. So they start on gathering honey. Then they can move up to be good, be better, be best, the hive is the top. As they go down the sayings say ouch, buzzz, the stinger, and stung. I didn't put my system on a wall. I like to be able to move it, because we move around the room so it's portable. I can carry it to my back table. Or over to the rug. That way my kids can see it at all times. I put it on foam board so it's more sturdy too.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

I thought I would share how we do our rotations in our room. We have four rotations. Two in the morning and two in the afternoon. I like that way better, that way the kids aren't doing four rotations at one time. We have seat work, vocabulary, table, center. Each rotation lasts 20 minutes.Each center is part of the daily five. center 1 is word work, center 2 is spelling, center 3 is listening center, and center 4 is reading/writing center. The bottom picture is how we group each of the groups. To make it easier on the students we put a black paper that covers the two rotations. First graders would be overwhelmed with reading four rotations. So this makes it much easier for them to see where they're supposed to be.

Afternoon rotations for the blue group. (sorry it's so blurry)

Morning rotations for the blue group.

At each center we have a basket of books, in case they get done early with their rotation. They can read books until it is time to rotate. We were having problems with scissors missing at the centers so we used shoelaces to tie the scissors to the basket. Now every center has a pair of scissors. (My colleague came up with this great idea).

Saturday, September 15, 2012

I'm linking up with Rowdy In First. She is having a linky party on being positive. I need this right now in my life. Sometimes I feel like at the beginning of school I get so bogged down with all the hustle and bustle. That I forget to look at the positive.

Something good at home: My youngest brother just turned 24 and we celebrated his birthday tonight. It was so nice to spend time with him and actually talk to him in person. I don't see him much because he works swing shift and is in college. He's a hardworking guy. So it was nice to hang out with him. Also we have a church program tomorrow and my son has a speaking part (he's only 5). We worked all day on it and he has it memorized. I couldn't be happier. I can't wait to see him up in front of everyone speaking. Something good at school: I started teaching first grade this year. I have taught second grade for 8 years ( I LOVE LOVE LOVE Second grade). All summer I have been dreading going down. I was really worried about how I was going to manage kids even younger than second graders. But I'm going to admit it. I actually think I really like First Grade. I can't believe I said it. But they're so cute, kind, and just sponges. I think it's going to be a pretty great year.

A few giveaways you might want to know about The Teacher Idea Factory is having an awesome giveaway right now. Which I so need. I feel like writing is where I am lacking.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

I've started teaching first grade and can I just say how much I love it... The kids are so sweet. They want to hold my hand and hug me all day long. They are just adorable. One of the activities we have been working on is called Name-O. My kids love this activity. I did this activity with my second graders last year and they loved it too. I made a file folder with the words NAME-O written on the front and I cut a slit in the front of it. Every day I choose three students names. I have all my students stand up. I pick one of their names and I slide their strip through the hole. One letter at a time. When I show the first letter. I have all the students who's name doesn't start with that letter sit down. I pull the name out of the slit slowly to only show each letter at a time. If a child has the same first and second letter in their name they keep standing until my class is able to figure out who's name it is. Then I have that child come to the front and we sing the song together. Putting their name in the blanks. I'm going to use the example Michael. The song goes like this:

There is a boy/girl in our Second grade Class and Michael is his name-o. M-i-c-h-a-e-l, M-i-c-h-a-e-l, M-i-c-h-a-e-l and Michael is his name-O. It's to the tune Of BINGO. How do you teach names in your class?